Red Cross staffer freed in Afghanistan weeks after abduction

BERLIN – The International Committee of the Red Cross says a staff member who was abducted in northern Afghanistan last month has been released.

The ICRC's head of delegation in Afghanistan, Monica Zanarelli, said Sunday that the man is "safe and sound" and is now with its team in Kunduz. The agency said it wouldn't comment on the identity of the abductors or their motives or give any details of the release.

The ICRC staffer, whose nationality wasn't specified, was snatched on Dec. 19 in the northern province of Kunduz as he was traveling to Mazar-i-Sharif. According to the Red Cross, three other colleagues were left unharmed.

A spokeswoman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid confirmed to The Associated Press that the aid worker was a Spaniard.